


Red

by especiallythezefronposter



Series: Equals [7]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-23
Updated: 2014-03-23
Packaged: 2018-01-16 17:35:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1355965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/especiallythezefronposter/pseuds/especiallythezefronposter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The last thing Loki saw was Thor's face, streaked with blood where he had last touched him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red

**Author's Note:**

> As always, you should first read the other fics in this series. This one is set pretty much right after Purple. (Loki buries Hel and then this fic begins)  
> 

Leaving Helheim was so easy that it caught Loki of guard for a moment. He was standing there, at the edge of nothing, looking for something that wasn't there. Even the slightest trace of Hel's magic would've been enough, but it was all gone, had died along with her. He took another step and faded - for a moment he was nowhere - but then his feet landed on wet sand and he could taste salt on his tongue. He wiped away his tears, but they kept rolling.

 _So this is where it ends,_ he thought as he looked around the Midgardian beach, wiping at his mouth and taking a deep breath. It was a pathetic excuse for a beach, really. The sea, the sand and the cliffs and clouds high above all a dull, dark grey, the air humid as if it had just rained a lot. 

He should've picked a place more fitting for the deathbed of a prince. But he had failed even in that.

There was no irony here, no recurrence of something Thor and him had already gone through, no metaphor or parallel or memory sticking around... Nothing he could bitterly laugh about, but he laughed anyway, because after a life of doing everything over, he now got to finish this in a new way. There was irony in that.

Thunder roared and for a moment it felt like Thor was laughing with him, but then he appeared opposite him, and there was no humor in his expression. 

Loki wiped away his tears again, and it seemed they had stopped rolling for now. His smile faded, and he felt stupid for showing any emotion at all. This was no time to laugh or weep. He had come here for vengeance, and that was it.

'Brother, do you ever learn?', Thor shouted over the roar of the wind he was causing. He sounded tired. Thick clouds gathered above them as Thor swung Mjolnir and Loki could hear lightning strike behind him. 'I cannot let you leave here alive, you know that. It is my duty to kill you'

'They killed my daughter! Odin killed Hel and you didn't stop him! You did nothing!', Loki screamed. 'Nothing!' He lifted his hand and curled his fingers, and Thor fell to his knees as he roared in pain. 'I did nothing! She was my daughter and I let her die!'

Thor managed to get up on one knee, Mjolnir forgotten beside him as he clawed at the invisible pain in his chest. 'Don't,' he coughed. 'Stop... Let - me...'

Loki complied, letting his arm fall back against his side, but Thor didn't say anything, just sat there, half kneeling and still holding his chest, panting as if he was carrying the sky.

Finally, after a few seconds of silence, he slowly got up. 'Don't blame yourself for something our father -' ' _Your father!_ ' '- did. It is him who did this, and him who will have to live with the guilt.'

'Don't act like you're worried about me all of a sudden,' Loki spat. 'Why wouldn't you want me to have to live with it? A few more minutes and I won't be alive anymore at all.' _Or you'll be dead and I'll just have some more guilt to live with._

Thor looked truly hurt by his accusation- whether it was about him going to kill Loki or not caring about him. 'Don't make me do this, Loki. Leave now, turn away and never come back, and I'll spare you,' Thor said, almost pleading. Mjolnir flew back into his hand and Loki recognized that stance, arms and legs spread, ready to attack.

Loki smiled without feeling any joy. He felt nothing, not even anger or grief. 'You will spare me anyway, brother. You have never been strong enough to kill me.' A knife appeared in his hand and he slowly stepped towards Thor. 'You're stronger than me, you know you can take this knife from me, you know you don't need it to kill me but still, you were never good at physically hurting me. You put scars where no one can see them, so that you could deny even to yourself that they aren't there. Oh, but they are, believe me.'

He raised his hand and brought it back down to stab Thor, but the latter caught his wrist in his hand and took the knife. Loki thought he would throw it away, ask him for peace once again, but instead he brought it down towards Loki's chest.

Loki didn't feel it, not the pain, but he did feel the cold of the knife, the soft way it tugged at his flesh as it tore right through it. He looked down as Thor pulled it back out of his shoulder and brought a hand to the wound.

He looked up at Thor, trying to convince himself he was curious as for how he could hurt Loki so easily after thousands of years of being nice and careful, and that he wasn't hurt, didn't care that Thor hated him enough to stab him. He was murderer, a psychopath, as many said. He hated Thor. He was here to kill him. He didn't care that Thor wanted _him_ dead just as much. 

There were tears streaming down Thor's face, and it felt like a consolation of some sort. He dropped the knife and carefully took a step towards Loki, lifting a hand towards his face, but not touching him, waiting for permission. 'I'm sorry brother. I'm so sorry. I don't know - I didn't... I love you.' His voice broke.

Loki looked back down at his hands so that Thor wouldn't see the tears in his eyes and his fingertips were bright red. He wasn't used to seeing his own blood, didn't even remember the last time he had been wounded like this, if he ever had been at all. He had put so much trust in the simple science that Thor would never hurt him, and now that trust had been betrayed, and there was only him to blame. And he would pay the price for his mistake with his own blood.

He felt a gentle hand touch his neck and looked back up to see Thor, so close that he could count his lashes one by one. He kissed him, and it was like breathing for the first time since they had said goodbye back in Alfheim. Their tears mingled and for a moment Loki forgot about the soft throbbing of his shoulder, or how Thor was shaking with sobs, because He was wiping the blood of Loki's hands and holding him close and it was all Loki ever needed.

And then Thor stopped moving, resting his lips against Loki's and putting his hands in Loki's hair. They were one person now, one bloodied body and one broken soul, filled with regret for all the mistakes they'd made. 'I'm sorry,' Thor whispered. 'I love you. I'm sorry.'

Loki felt pressure rise in his head and heard a loud, high-pitched noise that drowned out the waves and Thor's apologies. His mouth tasted like copper, and the last thing he saw was Thor's face, streaked with blood where Loki had last touched him.


End file.
